


Revelations

by lod



Series: Phantoms in Love [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, But mostly because canon forced me to angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I can't write short things, Kissing, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, One Shot, akiryu, my first fanfiction, pegoryu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 21:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14656560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lod/pseuds/lod
Summary: Ryuji can't sleep, and somehow, it leads to Akira catching feelings.It's mostly fluff. This is my first time writing fanfiction, and my first time doing any creative writing in at least 11 years, so any sort of constructive criticism is fine. Figured since I've read about the entirety of the teen-rated pegoryu category of Ao3, I should contribute to it ;)I ignored canon in terms of what happens in Hawaii, spoilers for the week just after the Hawaii trip (aka the 5th Palace).





	1. Chapter 1

“There was an error with our room booking, so a certain number of you will be sharing a King instead of a double Queen,” Kawakami said with a sigh. “You can share or use the pull-out bed. Come see me or one of the third year chaperones if you have any questions.” She put the papers she was holding down on the table next to her. “These are your room assignments. Once you get settled in, you have free time this evening until curfew at 11pm. Remember the rules you were given on the plane. You represent Shujin here, please act accordingly.”

Kawakami turned to go talk to the third year students.

Ryuji raced to the papers with his usual enthusiasm, flipping through them quickly. Akira was hanging back, but came forward when he heard his name.

“Mishima! You don’t mind trading roommates with me, right? You can room with Ikesugi, and I’ll stick with Akira. The guy snores, believe me, you’ll be better off!”

Mishima acquiesced quietly.

It wasn’t the nicest thought Akira had ever had, but he was glad for Mishima’s pushover personality at that moment. Rooming with his best friend was bound to be much more fun than being the target of Mishima’s hero worship all week, when he wasn’t giving him non stop Phansite updates.

He walked up to Ryuji. “What’s our room number?”

“417. Let’s go?”

Akira turned back to the girls and blinked. There was a very familiar looking head of blue hair standing next to them, and that was definitely a Kosei uniform. “Is...that Yusuke?” he asked Ryuji.

“Looks like it!” Ryuji answered excitedly. “Hey! Yusuke!” he yelled as he walked back towards the group.

The tall boy turned to look at them. “Hello, Ryuji, Akira. It would seem fate has chosen to cross our paths again.”

Ann rolled her eyes and explained. “Kosei’s flight to Los Angeles got diverted, and apparently their teachers decided they might as well just stay in Hawaii.”

“That’s great,” Akira said with a soft smile. “I’m always happy to spend more time with friends. Is Hifumi here as well?”

“Yes,” Yusuke replied. “It seems you two get along well.”

“I appreciate our Shogi games; she’s taught me a lot. I hope she can join us sometime this week. We should go get settled in, do you all want to grab dinner together later?”

They agreed on a meeting time and location, then started making their way to their rooms.

“Aw, man!” Ryuji exclaimed as he entered the room. “Guess we got one of the single-bed rooms…”

Akira walked past him into the hotel room. It was really nice, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking an avenue, but somehow lacked the charm of his dusty attic bedroom. There was a single bed so large Akira thought it might be possible to sleep 4 or 5 people in it.

“I hope you’re a calm sleeper," he told Ryuji with a smile.

“I hope _you_ are!”

“Well, don’t worry. I can take the couch if I bother you.”

Akira’s friends often joked that he would do anything for them, but it was the plain truth. Having these people in his life was a gift he’d never expected, and there was no chance of him taking them for granted.

Ryuji shook his head. “Come on, dude. It’ll be fine, this bed is huge. Did you want the shower?”

“Go ahead. I’ll unpack,” Akira replied.

* * *

The group had walked straight back to the hotel after dinner. Makoto had been able to join them, but was pulled back to her chaperoning duties as soon as they got back. Unfortunately, she would probably not be able to spend much time with them this week. After chatting in the lobby for a few minutes, the second-years decided to turn in early for the day, jetlag having gotten the best of them.

Akira stood by the window, looking over the brightly lit streets while Ryuji brushed his teeth. He’d never left the country before, and his phantom thief side was shouting for him to go explore, rules be damned, but he didn’t want to risk causing any trouble for Makoto. She was in charge of students on their floor of the hotel. In any case, he was too tired to actually sneak out tonight. He walked back over to the bed and flopped lazily onto it, his eyes drifting shut as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He was woken up a few minutes later by Ryuji rummaging around in the closet. “Are you looking for something?” he called out sleepily.

“No, it’s… it’s fine.”

Akira pushed himself up off the bed. “I’ll help you.”

“It’s really no big deal,” Ryuji replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

Akira raised an eyebrow at him, and Ryuji added, “I’m just… looking for an extra pillow, ok. I can’t sleep right if I’m not hugging something.”

Akira laughed as he walked over to check if there was one in the pull out couch. “How adorable.”

“Sh—shut up!” Ryuji muttered. “It doesn’t look like there’s one here…”

“Actually, not here, either. Want to call the front desk?”

Ryuji shook his head.

“I can call if you want.”

Ryuji’s turned bright red and mumbled, “It’s fine, let’s just go to sleep. What kind of fancy hotel room only has two pillows, anyway?”

* * *

 

Ten minutes later, Akira was ready to strangle Ryuji with his own pillow. He would not stop tossing and turning, and even the bed’s large size wasn’t enough to let Akira get to sleep.

“Ryuji, just let me call the front desk, seriously.”

Ryuji mumbled a refusal, and Akira, exhausted and slightly delirious from lack of sleep, pushed himself over to Ryuji across the mattress’s wide expanse. “Then you can hug me, if that’ll help.” Ryuji choked and started sputtering something, so Akira pressed closer and said, “Not weird unless you make it weird. You can get an extra pillow tomorrow. But _please,_ I have got to sleep.”

Ryuji reached a hesitant arm across Akira’s waist, putting his hand on the mattress a few inches from the other boy’s chest. Akira grabbed his hand and pressed it against his chest, shifting his body to find a comfortable position, then fell sound asleep at last.

* * *

 

The next morning, early rays of sunlight woke Akira up. Still half-asleep, he rubbed his head into his pillow, before realising with a shock that this “pillow” was warm, hairy, and definitely breathing. Suddenly wide awake, he opened his eyes and saw that his head was pressed up against Ryuji’s chest, a hand holding him there at the base of his neck, their arms and legs wrapped around each other.

The previous night’s events came back to him, and he remembered pushing himself against Ryuji to finally get him to sleep. He felt slightly embarrassed for a moment, but like he’d said, there wasn’t anything that strange about hugging your best friend, even if this was a bit closer than they’d normally choose to be.

Akira pushed away from Ryuji softly, trying to disentangle himself from his friend, but Ryuji’s breathing changed and he froze, afraid of waking him up. He let himself drift off in his thoughts as he looked at Ryuji’s face, inches from his own. Ryuji really was the best thing that had happened to him. He’d wanted to qualify that with “since coming to Shujin,” but if he was being honest, it went further than that. His immediate friendship, his unwavering support in the Metaverse, made him a one-in-a-lifetime friend. Despite his somewhat macho behavior, when they were alone, Ryuji would say things that let him know the feeling was mutual, like how free he felt with Akira. He really felt like he’d known the boy forever. The way he concealed his slight limp with a swaggering walk, his hair that screamed rebel but actually required constant bleaching and conditioning, his funny shirts, his happy smile when reading manga, so different from the wide, predatory grin he got when killing shadows, his distinctive short eyebrows, his high cheekbones that kept him more on the delicate than rugged side of looks despite his impressive biceps and shoulders….

Akira’s musings ground to a sudden halt. A thought, that had not been there before and yet now seemed self-evident and as inevitable as the rising of the sun, appeared in his mind. He attempted to push it away, but accepting a multitude of personas into his heart had greatly diminished his ability to lie to himself, and he let himself accept the idea.

At that moment, Ryuji stirred, and Akira thanked himself for listening to Igor’s repeated urgings to better himself. Without his endless frui-teas and all the time spent with Tora, he’d never have been able to smoothly fake being asleep right then. Ryuji pushed away from Akira as soon as he woke up, and Akira tried to convince himself the world didn’t suddenly feel a lot colder as he kept his eyes shut.

* * *

Because a limited number of teachers were available to come on the school trip, they would only have classes until the early afternoon, the rest of their days to be spent “immersing themselves in the english language.” In other words, they were free to laze around all afternoon, so they’d made plans to meet up with Yusuke and head to the beach.

Ryuji flashed a wide grin at Akira as they packed their beach supplies. “I can’t wait to meet some American cuties! Do you think they’re all as good-looking as Ann?”

Akira pushed aside the twinge of pain he felt on hearing those words and replied, “I doubt every American girl is a model, dude.” Ryuji had always loved looking at beautiful women. His own newfound discovery wouldn’t change that, so it would be best for Akira to get used to it.

Akira put his sunscreen and towel in a bag, and looked up to see Ryuji pulling off his pants. His eyes grew wide as he choked out a strangled, “What are you doing?”

Ryuji looked over his shoulder at him with a confused look. “Changing? I don’t know if they have changing booths on Waikiki beach, and I don’t wanna change in front of the girls.”

Right. They’d never had a problem with nakedness before, having changed together at the gym and even gone to the communal baths together, so there was no reason for Ryuji not to change in front of him now. This was going to be a lot harder than he’d realised, Akira thought as he busied himself with his bag for an excuse to look away from Ryuji.

When they were both finally packed, Akira checked his phone to see Ann had sent him a selfie of herself on the beach with a short “Where are you guys?! We’re by the blue umbrellas.”

* * *

As they walked down the park to the water, Akira noticed a lot of japanese faces and more importantly, just as many japanese voices. He wasn’t too worried about his english immersion, but he _was_ becoming increasingly worried about Ryuji’s loud mouth. After telling him to stop commenting on the girls a few times, he caught one too many angry faces looking their way and settled for slapping his hand over Ryuji’s mouth.

“Do you want to get kicked off the beach before we make it to the water? I’d rather not.”

Ryuji sagged and looked apologetic. “Sorry, I got carried away,” he spoke against Akira’s hand.

Akira pulled his hand away as thought it had been burned, flushing bright red. No one had ever told him how sensitive _palms_ could be. He could still feel Ryuji’s hot breath against it and the barest brush of his lips as he’d spoken.

Ryuji turned to his friend. “Are you feeling ok? You’re bright red.”

Shit. “It’s just really hot. Let’s hurry up and find the others?”

“Ok, race ya!” Ryuji replied excitedly, setting off without waiting for an answer.

Akira followed behind him, and they made it down to the area Ann had mentioned. They found Yusuke and Makoto sitting under a large umbrella with Ann’s bag. She must have already headed for the water… or one of the food stands, Akira thought with a smile. He squeezed in next to Yusuke, looking over his shoulder at his sketches. The artist was wearing his hoodie and had a full bag of art supplies next to him.

“Not planning on swimming, Yusuke?”

“I’m very sensitive to the sun, so it’s probably best I stay in the shade until later. Anyway, there’s so much to draw here. The people, the sea…I must capture it all!”

Makoto was applying sunscreen conscientiously, and turned to Akira. “Would you mind getting my back? I really don’t want to start the week off with a sunburn.”

Akira obliged, thinking of how excited he would have been at the opportunity to apply sunscreen to a girl’s back just a few days ago. Now, it was nothing more than a friendly gesture. He finished and looked over at Ryuji, who’d just pulled off his shirt. “What about you, need me to help you?”

“Uh, no dude. I’m fine.”

Makoto turned to glare at him. “I hope you weren’t planning on heading out there without any sunscreen?”

“Fiiiine….” Ryuji grabbed the bottle and managed to cover himself well enough to pass Makoto’s inspection. “Where’s Ann, anyway?”

Yusuke pointed with his pencil towards the water, where Ann could be seen pushing around a beach ball. “Already in there.”

“Oh, who are we waiting for then? Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Ryuji yelled as he ran down the beach, Makoto unexpectedly running after him.

Akira stayed next to Yusuke, looking at his friends splash about in the water.

“You’re not going in?” Yusuke asked.

“I’m feeling a bit tired from the jet lag still, I was thinking I might just relax here for now,” Akira replied. It wasn’t a lie, and Yusuke didn’t need to know he wasn’t sure he could control his thoughts around Ryuji’s half naked body.

Unfortunately for him, Ryuji had noticed his absence, and was running back up the beach.

“Well, are you coming in or what?”

“I was actually going to just relax here today.”

“What? You can do that any time! ...Or maybe, you need some help getting in?”

Akira took a moment too long to understand what Ryuji was getting at, and he found himself lifted off the towel by Ryuji’s arms.

“Hey, don’t get water on my sketchbook!” Yusuke said as he wiped a drop off.

“Sorry about that. See ya later!” Ryuji said, beginning to walk back down towards the water with Akira in his arms, bridal-style.

“Aaagh, let me down! You’re getting cold water all over me!” Akira complained, struggling. It was times like these that Ryuji’s passion for working out was apparent; although the two boys were a similar size, Akira had no hope of evading Ryuji’s strong grip.

“I’m about to get you much wetter!” Ryuji replied, laughing as he shook water from his hair onto Akira.

“Waaait! You didn’t even let me take off my shirt,” Akira squealed as he found himself above the water, Ryuji clearly getting ready to dump him in. That stopped the blond boy.

“Oh, um, oops. Promise you won’t go running back to the towel if I let you down?”

Akira was about to agree, but Ann had noticed the two and barreled into Ryuji, knocking them both into the water. “There you are! Come on, you’re needed for a two-person game of beach ball! Ryuji, you can carry me, and Akira can take Makoto, ok?”

Akira sighed at the feel of the cold, damp shirt on his shoulders. He realised that he hadn’t had time to apply sunscreen, so it wasn’t such a bad idea to keep it, and went to pick Makoto up.

They played around with the ball for a while, Akira trying not to stare at Ryuji every time he pushed himself out of the water. It really was unfair the way the salt water and sun made his abs sparkle, as though _he_ were the treasure in a palace. Finally they got bored of the ball, and Ann started walking back towards the towels to leave it with Yusuke.

“Hang on, let me join you. I want to get this wet shirt off.”

As they walked back, Ann elbowed him lightly. “I saw you staring at Ryuji out there!”

Akira stumbled. He’d definitely expected to have a little more time to come to terms with his feelings before having to discuss them with anyone. “I don’t… what do you…?”

“I’m super jealous of his abs too! He’s totally been going to the gym without us, that cheater. I’m gonna tell him he has to let us know every time he goes when we get back, ok?”

He barely managed to hold in his sigh of relief. She seemed to have misunderstood him, and he would not be the one to correct her. They made it back to Yusuke, who was so absorbed by his art he barely noticed them, dropped their stuff off, and turned back to the water.

* * *

 

An hour or so later, they were all lying back on their towels, the sun making its way towards the horizon.

“So I’ve heard there’s a place here that serves ridiculous portion sizes,” Ryuji said.

Ann leaned up, looking at him. “Oh yeah? What’s it called?”

“Cheesecake Factory. Do you all want to grab dinner there?”

“Hell yeah!” Ann shouted, jumping up. “Should we just rinse off here and go straight there?”

“Good idea. I really need to get the salt out of my hair anyway,” Makoto said, standing as well.

They headed to the public showers, which turned out to be ice cold. Makoto and Akira showered quickly, then watched Ryuji and Ann laughing and splashing each other with the water while would-be shower users looked on with annoyance.

“Maybe we should calm them down, for everyone’s good…” Makoto sighed.

“Yeah, probably. Hey, guys! Remember the food?” Akira called out. It was as effective as he’d hoped, and they were soon getting changed in their towels while Yusuke packed up his art supplies.

They stood in line for 20 minutes at Cheesecake Factory, Ryuji complaining the whole time about how hungry he was. Finally they were seated in a booth, Makoto and Ann on one side, Ryuji and Akira on the other, with Yusuke on a chair at the end. Akira was particularly proud that his comment about “Letting Yusuke sit at the end so he has space for his art supplies” had successfully let him slide in next to Ryuji.

When their appetizers arrived, large enough to be a meal for two, Akira realised his Big Bang Burger training was finally going to pay off. Ann and Ryuji seemed to be in heaven as they chowed down on the fried foods, while Yusuke was quiet but determined, probably making up for weeks of starving artist life. Makoto attempted to get them all to calm down, but when Akira told her, “You have to eat quickly or you hit the satiety point before you can finish. Trust me, I’m an expert on this!” she realised she was fighting a lost cause.

“Well, don’t come complain to me when you all feel sick tonight,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

The entrees came and went. Because it was _Cheesecake_ Factory, they insisted on finishing with cheesecake in spite of their bulging stomachs, although they made the concession of sharing two for the table. Akira and Ryuji went for some over the top chocolate affair, and by the end all of them agreed they’d never eaten so much in their life. As they half-stumbled, half-rolled out of the booth, Ann suggested a digestive walk on the beach. Yusuke immediately agreed, making some comment about “needing to capture the inevitable beauty of the night lights,” but Ryuji groaned.

“No way. I don’t even know if I can make it back to the hotel. I am not walking one step more than necessary.”

“Well, I’ll head back with you then,” Akira said. “I don’t want to wake you up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ryuji replied, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Oh, did you two get one of the single bed rooms then?” Ann asked.

Akira nodded. “I’m exhausted too, anyway. I can see the beach at night tomorrow.”

Makoto, Ryuji and Akira made their way back to the hotel in food coma-induced silence. As they went their separate ways at the elevator, Makoto reminded them not to be late to class tomorrow morning.

When they made it back to their room, Ryuji asked, “Mind if I take the shower? I don’t think I’ll stay awake long enough for you to finish if you go first…”

“No worries, go for it,” Akira replied. While sitting on the desk chair waiting for his turn, he realised Ryuji had forgotten to ask for a pillow at reception. For some reason, he decided not to remind him.

When Akira got out of the shower, wearing just his sweatpants this time, he saw Ryuji turn toward him from the bed and open his eyes. “I can’t sleep again, do you mind if…” Ryuji trailed off.

Silently, Akira walked over to his side of the bed, settling down directly next to him. Ryuji grabbed him and started snoring softly almost immediately. Akira, on the other hand, found it much harder to fall asleep this time than he had the night before.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully in beach trips and tasty meals, Akira going straight to Ryuji’s side of the bed without being asked at night, and faking sleep every morning when he woke up against Ryuji. The last evening, Akira realised he would have to find more excuses to spend the night in Ryuji’s arms; now that he had found the most comfortable way to sleep, he couldn’t imagine never doing it again. Maybe he could convince Ryuji that he needed to hug his best friend in order to sleep. No… that was way too close to the honest truth. Something a little less obvious. He stayed awake late into the night thinking of unlikely scenario after unlikely scenario.

* * *

Ryuji and Akira were, obviously, sitting next to each other on the flight home. The nice thing about having a crush on your best friend was that you had plenty of opportunities to get close to them. Akira sat by the window, leaving the aisle to Ryuji, who needed to stretch his bad leg every now and then. Ryuji didn’t seem to be much less tired than Akira, and kept falling asleep, waking up when his head dropped forward. Finally, Akira took pity on him, lifting up the armrest separating their seats.

“Here, you can lean on me.” Ryuji raised an eyebrow, and Akira added, “You’re going to suddenly get shy at this point?”

Ryuji blushed and leaned into Akira, falling asleep against his shoulder. Akira pulled a blanket up around them, then put an arm around Ryuji and fell asleep as well.

When Ann came down the aisle a few hours into the flight to see if they were as bored as she was, she realised they were definitely not. She suppressed a squeal and snuck a quick photo to show Makoto and Futaba before heading back to her seat. She’d been a little hurt when Akira had seemed to be completely immune to her charms, but this explained everything. Anyway, if she was being honest with herself, Akira would only have been a rebound from the pain of losing the person she truly loved, so she couldn’t feel too hurt about it…

Ann was waiting for Akira and Ryuji at the baggage claim when they finally made it through immigration. She leaned into Akira when they came up to her level, grinning. “So how was your flight? Was it _comfortable_?”

Ryuji looked at her, confused. “How can flying ever be a comfortable thing? Why, was yours?”

“No, but then again I wasn’t in quite as good company!” Ann said with an obnoxious wink in Akira’s direction.

“Ann, is your nose looking sunburned?” Akira said, hoping desperately to distract her.

“What? I have a shoot on Wednesday! I was being so careful too!” she wailed. “I have to go check!”

“We’ll see you later, ok?” Akira called out as she ran off to the nearest restroom.

* * *

 

“What was up with Ann?” Ryuji asked. “She was acting really weird.”

Akira, both relieved by and disappointed in Ryuji’s obliviousness, gave what he hoped was a casual shrug. “Maybe she’s practicing some modeling thing.”

To his relief, Ryuji nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, that must be it!”


	2. Chapter 2

They made their way to the train, Ryuji limping a bit. He’d slept a little too well on the plane and hadn’t gotten up to stretch his leg out often enough. Ryuji pushed down the anger he always felt when he thought about his leg. It was pointless anger; they’d done something about Kamoshida, and he wouldn’t be hurting anyone else again. Sure, that wouldn’t fix Ryuji’s leg, but he was learning to be ok with that. If he hadn’t had such a personal grudge against Kamoshida, would he have run up to Ann getting into his car? And if he hadn’t, would he have met Akira? He turned to look at the reserved boy. He was his closest friend, the first person other than his mother who had accepted him unreservedly, never expecting him to be more or less than he was. Who’d saved his life within hours of having met him. Ryuji had always thought best friends were something for people who were better than him, nicer, smarter. However, in the few months since Akira had stumbled into his life, he’d found himself with four, maybe even five.

Ryuji’s happy reverie was interrupted as he felt the ground give out beneath his feet. He looked down to see the stair he’d missed, and reached out blindly to grab onto something, when he felt a strong hand grip his shoulder and pull him upright. Akira, as cool as ever, hadn’t even bothered to take his other hand out of his pocket. It was a bit unfair how much of his alter-ego carried over into the real world. Someone as scrawny as him should not have been able to catch Ryuji single-handedly.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, thanks. Let’s hurry up and get on that train, I think I need to sleep some more.”

* * *

 

They managed to snag seats on the train. As they sat down, Ryuji felt his phone buzz, and pulled it out.

**Ann:** You two make SUCH A CUTE COUPLE! When were you gonna tell me???

Ryuji made a strangled sound and nearly dropped his phone.  _ What? _

**Ryuji:** What are you talking about?!

**Ann:** Oh! You two just seemed so close on the plane…

**Ryuji:** We were SLEEPING! It’s not like there’s a lot of space on a plane!

**Ann:** On his shoulder though?

**Ryuji:** Oh right, I was touching a guy, we must be in love. So next time I do a Baton Pass with Yusuke am I going to be dating him, too?

**Ann:** Oh don’t be mad, Ryuji. I’m sorry, ok. I assumed.

**Ann:** You could do worse than Akira though…

**Ryuji:** What is effing wrong with you?!

Ryuji huffed at his phone, then noticed Akira was looking at him curiously. He quickly slid his phone back into his pocket, saying “It’s nothing.”

It obviously wasn’t nothing, but Akira was kind enough to drop it. After a while, Ryuji looked up to check where they were.

“Hey, weren’t you supposed to change at the last stop for Yongen-jaya?” he asked Akira.

“Oh, Boss doesn’t like me coming in during the day, it might drive off his customers. I was planning to hang out at the diner until this evening.”

“Are you kidding?” Ryuji exclaimed. “You can come to my place.”

“I don’t want to intrude,” Akira demurred.

Ryuji pushed his friend’s shoulder lightly. “Come on, you know you never do. My mom won’t be home till late anyway.”

“...Thanks, Ryuji,” Akira said with a soft smile.

* * *

 

A few trains behind them, Ann frantically texted Futaba and Makoto.

Ann: “FALSE ALERT! They are  _ not dating _ !”

Futaba erased the message she had been on the verge of sending to Akira. Then she hit ctrl-Z, copy-pasted it into a text file, and saved it. Considering how close those two were, she had the feeling it’d be useful at some point in the future.

* * *

 

An hour later, Ryuji was sitting on his bed, waiting for Akira to finish showering. He pulled his phone out to check the time and saw Ann’s messages again. Ann was such a stereotypical girl, seeing  _ signs _ everywhere like that. When they’d been in middle school, she’d been obsessed with pairing up characters in the manga they read, but he thought she would have outgrown that by now. He and Akira had a closer friendship than most guys did, but he was damned if he’d let anyone try and make that weird. It wasn’t like he’d ever been even bi-curious. Sure, he knew Akira was good looking, but who wouldn’t have noticed that? He had those soulful grey eyes framed by ridiculously long lashes, and his fluffy hair was amazingly silky -- Ryuji knew this from waking up with his hand in it. And his skin was so soft he had to be following some sort of skin care routine. The rest of him wasn’t bad either, with that strong yet lithe figure, and his pianist’s hands…

Akira chose that moment to re-enter the room wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. Ryuji’s eyes shot up at him, then right back down when he saw his smooth torso. “Dude! Put some clothes on!” he said, blushing.

Akira chuckled and bent down to open his suitcase. “That’s what I was planning to do, yeah.”

Ryuji’s eyes kept flicking to Akira’s back, his damp hair, then away again, his cheeks growing hotter by the second.

Desperate for a distraction, he pulled out his phone and without letting himself think too much about it, sent Ann a message.

**Ryuji:** Was there any reason you thought we were dating, other than the sleeping thing?

For Ryuji, that was downright cryptic, and he hoped Ann wouldn’t see through the question too quickly.

Akira had clothes in his arms, but was still standing there. “Do you need something?” Ryuji asked.

“Yeah, I think I don’t have any more clean shirts. Can I borrow one?”

Ryuji walked over to his closet and pulled out a graphic tee.

“Thanks. I’ll make sure I wash it before I return it,” Akira said as he walked back to the bathroom to change.

When Akira walked back into the room, Ryuji had to suppress his urge to stare. He’d grabbed one of his larger shirts without paying attention, and it hung crookedly on Akira’s slimmer build, nearly dropping off a shoulder. Somehow, he looked even better like this than he had in just the towel.

“Sorry, that one’s really big, do you want a smaller one?” he asked.

Akira shook his head. “It’s fine. This one’s comfy, anyway. So, what did you want to do?”

“Well, I was gonna jump in the shower, then maybe we can catch up on that manga series I was telling you about?”

“Sounds good!” Akira replied, lying back onto the bed and checking his cell phone.

* * *

 

When Ryuji came back from his shower, he found Akira curled up on the bed fast asleep, his cell phone forgotten next to his head and glasses still on his nose. Ryuji leaned over and pulled off his glasses, laying them on the nightstand, then plugged Akira’s phone into a charger as well as his. He looked at Akira and realised he must have been cold to be curled up that way, so he pulled a blanket over the boy’s sleeping form before grabbing a manga to read. He figured he should at least make some attempt to fight off the jet lag and not go to bed at noon.

Ryuji didn’t have a chair in his bedroom; it was a fairly small room, with all the free space taken up by his dresser and an overflowing bookshelf. He sat on the floor against the bed to read, but his leg started cramping after a few minutes. Akira hadn’t shifted from fetal position and was barely taking up half the space in the bed, so Ryuji laid down gingerly on the bed next to him, trying not to wake him up.

After a dozen pages, Ryuji realised he’d been trying to read the same page for at least five minutes and gave up. Putting his book down, he hesitated about grabbing the stuffed cat on his side table. A phone buzzed, and he reached over to see that Ann had replied to him.

**Ann:** I said I was sorry, ok?

Ryuji frowned.

**Ryuji:** I’m not mad, just curious.

**Ann:** Well, it was mostly the sleeping. It was a pretty close position!

**Ann:** But then it all kinda made sense. Like the way Akira couldn’t stop staring at you at the beach

Akira had been staring at him at the beach?

**Ann:** and how he’s turned down every girl who’s asked him out. There’s at least 4 I know off, and probably more I don’t. Cute ones!

**Ann:** You both just look so happy when you’re together. Don’t take this the wrong way or anything but it...makes me miss Shiho, when I see you two. You know?

Ryuji stared at Ann’s messages for a long moment. The thought of Akira getting asked out by a bunch of women should have made him jealous of Akira. He was always bemoaning the lack of girls interested in him. So why couldn’t he shake the feeling that he was jealous of the girls?

**Ann:** But I get it, you’re just really good friends! I won’t make that kinda comment again, promise.

Ryuji shook himself. He didn’t know what to make of how he felt, but he knew he couldn’t keep it all inside his head or he’d drive himself mad. There were worse people to confide in than Ann; her persona was the lovers for a reason, after all.

**Ryuji:** If I tell you something, can you promise to keep it to yourself? And I mean to yourself, not to that secret Women of the Phantom Thieves chat I know you have going on.

**Ann:** How do you know about that?!

**Ryuji:** lucky guess

**Ann:** Ugh, I walked right into that one... 

**Ann:** Anyway, of course I can keep it to myself.

**Ann:** What’s up?

**Ryuji:** I think Akira’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

**Ann:** He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to any of us, honestly.

**Ryuji:** And I think he’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

**Ann:** Again, most of us probably agree with you. The other day, Yusuke told me he got it wrong when he tried to get me to model for him, he should have asked Akira if he wanted true beauty.

**Ryuji:** Ann, what I’m trying to say is…

**Ryuji:** I think I want to be more than his best friend.

**Ann:** OMG

**Ryuji:** don’t laugh!

**Ann:** I'm not! But I’d  _ just _ managed to convince myself that I needed to stop thinking you two were great for each other and then you turn it all around!

**Ryuji:** I kinda just realised it myself.

**Ann:** Somehow, I’m not surprised.

**Ryuji:** Do you think we can hang out tomorrow? I’m gonna go crazy if I don’t talk to someone about this.

**Ann:** Sure, meet me at the diner after school. You’re paying!

**Ryuji:** What?? Why!

**Ann:** You have to buy my silence, right?

**Ann:** I have to go unpack, ttyl!

Ryuji put his phone down, feeling like a weight was lifted off his chest. He glanced at Akira, and decided he wasn’t going to pass up what might be his last chance to sleep with the boy in his arms. He hid his stuffed cat under his bed with a silent apology — that cat had been there for him through a lot of personal crises and honestly deserved better than that — and slipped under the blanket to pull Akira into his arms.

* * *

 

Akira and Ryuji woke up a few hours later, and after a few fighting game rounds and some instant ramen, Akira headed home. Ryuji somehow managed to act casual the whole time, but when Akira left he felt almost relieved. Second guessing his every action was exhausting. Feeling this uncomfortable around his best friend was horrible; Akira was supposed to be the person who made him feel free. Ryuji distracted himself by finishing his manga and preparing dinner for his mom. Luckily, she didn’t get home too late, and telling her all about the Hawaii trip kept him busy the rest of the evening.

* * *

 

Ryuji thought he had enough on his mind trying to figure out how he felt about Akira, but fate decided otherwise. His first day back at school was a flurry of rumors until the official announcement of Principal Kobayakawa’s death. It was Ryuji’s first direct brush with death, and he had trouble wrapping his mind around it. For all that he’d hated that oversized potato of a man, it was still strange to imagine that he had been there at one moment and was gone the next. It made him suddenly aware of how fragile his own existence was, of how easily he, or Akira, or any of the rest of the Phantom Thieves, could die if something went wrong. Of how close they had actually come to dying on that first day with Kamoshida.

His meeting with Ann at the diner was rescheduled as Akira called an emergency meeting of the Phantom Thieves. Ryuji was on edge that whole evening, and finally his nerves snapped and he got into a shouting match with Morgana. When it reached a head with Morgana walking out the door, he felt like he was at the bottom of a deep pit of darkness. He’d never meant for this to happen; Morgana wasn’t his favorite person, but he was part of the team. Akira would never forgive him. He’d never forgive himself. He shoved away all his thoughts, pasting a carefree expression on his face.

* * *

 

The next day, Ryuji managed to make it through the school day without seeing Akira. They usually ate lunch with Makoto and Ann, but he’d sent a message about needing to “finish the math homework or Ms. Usami will definitely be sending a note home to my mother.” He figured they didn’t want to see him after last night, anyway, and they didn’t try to convince him to join them. School finally ended, and Ryuji headed over to the diner to meet up with Ann. She would be coming a bit late as she needed to see Makoto about the school festival organisation first, so Ryuji ordered himself a drink while he waited. He hesitated in front of the menu, then decided to go for a frui-tea. It had to taste better than coffee, and he needed all the charm he could get at this point.

Ann walked in fifteen minutes later and slid into the booth opposite Ryuji. She looked a bit annoyed and Ryuji felt his heart sink.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Ryuji said. “I understand if you don’t want to talk to me, after yesterday…”

Ann looked at him, and her expression softened. “It’s been a hard couple of days for all of us. I’m sure Morgana will come back. He’s not some stray cat likely to be run over by a car, after all.”

“I’m not sure Akira will see it that way.”

“That fight wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done, but Morgana was as much at fault as you were. I can’t imagine Akira would hold a grudge over that. Anyway, we weren’t here to talk about Morgana, were we?”

Ryuji shifted on his seat. “Yeah, so… I wanted to ask, how did you know you liked Shiho? As more than a friend, I mean.”

“...Hmm.” Ann thought for a moment, then replied, “This isn’t a great memory, but I guess it would be the day she jumped off the roof of Shujin. I’d always thought she was a beautiful, smart, wonderful person. She was my best friend for years, and I would have done anything for her; I don’t think I’d have put up with Kamoshida for anyone else. But the day she jumped, when I ran down to find her without knowing if she’d be breathing or not, I realised I couldn’t imagine my life without her. I wanted her to be next to me, for the rest of my life. As  _ part _ of my life.” Ann blushed slightly. “I know that makes me sound a bit dramatic. People are always falling in and out of love in high school, right? But that’s how I felt. How I still feel. Every day that I get to spend by her side is a gift.” Suddenly, she lost her serious look and broke into a grin. “And she’s so hot! I mean have you seen her in her sports uniform? That short skirt…”

Ryuji laughed, and Ann continued. “How do you feel? About Akira?”

“I’m not sure, honestly. He’s the most important person in my life. He’s literally saved my life. He’s smart, kind, gorgeous… I don’t understand how I got lucky enough to have him in my life. But none of those things are new, I’ve been aware of how great he is for months now. So why do I suddenly feel like my heart’s going to burst out of my chest when I look at him? I’ve never had any interest in guys before! It doesn’t make any sense!” Ryuji slammed his hand on the table, making his teacup jump.

Ann put her hand over his. “Maybe for now, this can just be about Akira? Not about you liking guys. Just about you liking Akira.”

“Yeah...but even then, what am I supposed to do? What’s going to happen when he finds out his best friend wants to jump his bones?!”

Ann’s eyes opened wide, and Ryuji wished desperately for a way to take the words back. Once again, his mouth had spoken faster than his brain could think.

“ _ I meant _ , that his best friend wants to date him….”

Ann put her head down into her arms on the table, failing to completely suppress her laughter. “So the whole “not sure how I feel” thing was a lie, then?”

“...I guess. But I’m not sure how I want to feel. I’m not sure what I want to do about it.” Ryuji said with a dejected sigh.

Ann sobered up and looked at him earnestly. “I can’t tell you how to live your life. But I know with Shiho, I took the plunge because the way I saw it, I had two choices. I could pine after her silently, take no risks, and slowly ruin our friendship by wishing it were something else. Or, I could tell her how I felt, and if I was really lucky, get everything I wanted. Sure, it was a big risk and it could have all blown up in my face, but she’s worth taking risks for.” Ann smiled.

“It’s just so HARD,” Ryuji sighed.

“I don’t need to know that,” Ann said with a devilish grin. 

Ryuji rolled his eyes and laughed, grateful for the change of mood.

“For what it’s worth, I think you have a good shot. The way he looks at you, that’s not just friendly appreciation. And it wouldn’t be like Akira to hold it against you if he didn’t.”

“I’ll… think about it. Thanks, Ann. I guess you’re good for more than just English homework.”

Ann made a show of acting insulted and sent him off to buy her her drink. They stayed a while longer, reminiscing about middle school mischief, before heading home.

* * *

 

Ryuji was saved from having to spend too much time alone with his feelings by the hunt for Mona. To his relief, they found him on their first day in Okumura’s palace, along with an unknown Persona user with the silliest code name possible. It wasn’t a particularly friendly meeting, especially the moment where the “Beauty Thief” insulted all of them, but he was glad to see Morgana was doing alright. It got worse when, for some reason, the shadows targeted him particularly as they made their escape, but he made it to the hideout safely. That evening, they split up the work to get more information on the Beauty Thief. They felt like they’d seen her before at school, so the Shujin students would check the yearbooks together. For some reason, Yusuke and Futaba decided to work together to investigate Okumura Foods. Ryuji was pretty sure Futaba wouldn’t need Yusuke’s help, but if spending time together got them to squabble less on Mementos runs, it wasn’t a bad idea.

When he got home, Ryuji spent some time looking into the company as well, still feeling guilty about Morgana and trying his best to fix things. The others had apparently had the same idea, and the picture their searches painted was particularly troublesome. Ryuji had trouble sleeping, worried about Morgana and the girl.

* * *

 

Ryuji wanted nothing more than to rush through the palace right away, but they would be focusing on trying to find the Beauty Thief’s identity that day. He had no excuse to stay away from Akira this time, and without the adrenaline of palace exploration, his anxiousness over his feelings for his best friend took over his thoughts as they flipped through page after page of student pictures. Trying to seem casual, Ryuji made a comment about a girl looking hot, realising a moment too late how young she was and feeling like even more of an ass. Makoto called for a break, but even that wasn’t enough to save them from the dullness of the work.

Ryuji was beginning to give up when at last, Ann jumped up and shouted, “This girl!” They crowded around her to look. The girl in question had the Beauty Thief’s distinctive hair, but what surprised them was her name. Haru Okumura.

They decided to break for the day, exhausted, and try to get more information from Haru the next day. When he got home, Ryuji saw that Akira and Makoto had sent some messages to the group chat. They’d run into Haru on their way home, but she was uncooperative and didn’t want to share any information with them. When Ann realised that Haru and Morgana had probably been heading into Mementos to resolve requests, the group decided to have a stake-out there to catch them. Ryuji still thought rushing in to chase them would be better, but his friends overruled his hot-headed opinion.

* * *

 

As they hid by the entrance of Mementos the next afternoon waiting for Morgana and Haru, Ann asked Ryuji if he was going to apologize when they caught them. Ryuji looked at her, angry. Of course he would apologize; Ann knew how terrible he felt about this.

After kneeling in the shadows for nearly an hour, all of Ryuji’s guilt had about evaporated, and he was feeling more in the mood to kick Morgana than apologize to him. That was the moment the two chose to appear on the escalator. Makoto and Yusuke made remonstrations, trying to get Morgana to understand that wantonly accepting all the Phan-site requests was a bad idea. Haru began apologizing, but Morgana took a bit more convincing. Ryuji managed to choke out a half apology, then at Ann’s forceful urging, tried for something more heartfelt. He was as bad with words as ever, however, and somehow managed to make Morgana even angrier. Morgana and Haru rushed back off into the depths in car form, and Ryuji had had enough. He ran in after them, not waiting to see if the rest of the group would follow. They managed to trap Morgana in a dead-end, but even that didn’t stop the ex-Phantom Thief, who escaped by nearly running them over. This went on for a bit until Morgana, the idiot, managed to crash himself. Ryuji tried to apologize again, but Haru used a cheap trick to distract them and Morgana rushed off again. Makoto finally decided they ought to leave Mementos for the day as they were getting nowhere.

To their surprise, when they exited Mementos they heard Morgana’s pained voice calling out, “Some...body…?”

They turned towards the source of the sound, what seemed like an altercation between a man and woman in the alley. As they got closer, they saw that it was Haru and a well-dressed man, the latter gripping her arm in a way that looked painful. Haru was struggling a bit, but the man wasn’t letting go. While Futaba leaned down to look at Morgana, who was sprawled on the street, Ryuji yelled at the man. He’d been angry all day and he finally had a worthy target for his feelings, so he wasn’t going to hold back. The man let Haru go and smoothly replied that it was just a quarrel with his fiancee. All of them were shocked; not only was Haru very young to be fianceed to anyone, but he’d clearly been physically attacking her. The man got angry, but Ryuji walked menacingly towards him and he ran off, making a comment about telling someone’s father about this.

Morgana seemed to be alright, so they asked Haru for more information. Her words were chilling; she really was engaged to this man, and apparently her father wouldn’t care at all that he’d been aggressing her, on the contrary. Morgana apologized and asked for them to take care of Haru, and Ryuji felt all the anger flow out of him. He squatted down to give Morgana a grateful look, then looked up at Akira. “We’ll take her to your place, yeah?”

* * *

 

Haru was obviously exhausted, and they let her rest on the couch while they discussed what had been going on with Morgana. Morgana kept talking about not letting them “risk their lives” for him anymore. Ryuji felt bad; he knew what it was like to feel like you were a burden on everyone. Morgana insisted on splitting up after Haru woke up, but Haru smiled and grabbed Morgana as though he were just another cute pet. She cut straight through his lies, and Morgana ended up shouting — or rather, very loudly meowling — that the team was the only place he belonged, and he never wanted to leave. Ryuji felt relief wash over him. He hadn’t destroyed the Phantom Thieves. Morgana switched immediately back to his obnoxious, overconfident self, and the team was finally back to normal, possibly with the addition of one fluffy-haired beauty thief.

At that moment, Ryuji noticed the time. He’d barely have time to make it to the station to catch the last train, and there was no way he wanted to spend the night with Akira and Morgana. Futaba invited Haru to stay at Sojiro’s, and with that settled, everyone went home.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Haru and Futaba came down to the cafe with to have breakfast with Akira. Sojiro dropped by, suggestively whispering to Akira about bringing around yet another girl. Akira gave an offhand reply. If only Sojiro knew which of his friends he ought to be making suggestive comments about… hoo boy.

Haru explained about having found Morgana, then told Akira and Futaba about her father’s plans to marry her off once Sojiro was back behind the counter. Akira was amazed at how sweet and composed she could be while discussing her own fraught future. She truly was an incredibly strong woman, and if having her as part of the team could be attributed to Morgana having ran away, he should be thanking Ryuji for it.

He felt sad at the thought of his best friend. Ryuji had been acting strangely this last week, and Akira was worried he’d realised how Akira felt and was disgusted by it. It seemed out of character, but Ryuji was always so aggressively heterosexual, trying to hit on girls at every occasion. Maybe Akira just didn’t know him as well as he thought he did. It usually felt like they were reading each other’s minds, Ryuji’s hand up for a high-five handoff before Akira even turned towards him, but this week everything had been awkward, as if they were just a measure out of beat. Akira realised he would have to have a serious discussion with Ryuji if this kept up; in a more serious battle it could be dangerous, and he wouldn’t risk the rest of the Phantom Thieves’ well-being because of his stupid hormones.

 

“Earth to Akira!”

Akira blinked and realised Futaba was standing next to him, waving her hand in front of his face. “Are you ok? We lost you for a minute there.”

“Sorry, I’m fine. A bit tired, I guess.”

“I was asking, are you free tomorrow? I got a new video game we should try!”

Akira smiled. He loved spending time with Futaba; she was quickly becoming the sister he’d never known he wanted. “Of course.”

“Great!” Futaba bounced on her heels. “I’ll tell Ryuji too, he really wanted to try it. ”

There wasn’t anything Akira could reasonably say to that, so he smiled and waved Futaba and Haru off.

* * *

 

He had a few errands to run that day, DVDs he hadn’t had a chance to return during the busy week and medicine to buy for the upcoming palace run. After taking care of things in Shibuya, his worry over seeing Ryuji the next day got the better of him, and he dropped by Shinjuku to see Chihaya before heading home. It couldn’t hurt to put all chances on his side, he thought wryly as he asked her for an affinity reading with Ryuji. Chihaya was surprised by his request.

“I thought you two were already as close as it’s possible to get!” she said with a smile.

While she read the cards, Akira considered telling her about his feelings for Ryuji and his fear of losing his first and best friend in Tokyo. Chihaya was a very emotionally intelligent woman; she’d had to be to convince her clients back when she was still running the power stone scam. She would probably be able to offer good advice. However, he still needed to go see Takemi before she closed up shop, and he would already be cutting it a bit close.

“I’ll tell you more about it next time, ok?”

Chihaya looked a bit worried, and he put on his _everything is fine_ mask, something he’d gotten much too used to doing this past year. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll try to come see you soon, alright?” He paid her and headed off.

* * *

 

Futaba sent him a text message in the middle of the night, causing Morgana to grumble. Akira rubbed his companion’s furry head with a grin. He’d missed Morgana. He was always very vocal about not being a cat, but his obsession for sleep really belied that fact. Futaba’s message told him she’d coming by around noon. He sent back a quick thumbs up, then rolled back over and fell asleep.

* * *

Akira kept himself busy that morning working on lockpicks. They could never have enough lockpicks in a new palace, and it always bothered him to leave a treasure chest unopened. It was around 11 when he heard someone walking up the stairs to his bedroom. He turned around, expecting to see Sojiro asking him to come help in the cafe, but instead Ryuji was standing at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, you’re early. Futaba said she’d be here around noon,” Akira said, turning back to his lockpick for a distraction.

Akira quickly finished his lockpick and realised Ryuji hadn’t replied. The boy was still standing at the top of the stairs, looking of all things, terrified.

“Are you alright?”

Ryuji walked a few steps into the attic and bit his lip. “Um. I need to tell you something. But you have to promise me this won’t change anything between us as Phantom Thieves!” Ryuji half-shouted the last bit, staring at him.

Akira’s stomach dropped straight through the attic floor. So this was it. Ryuji would tell him he’d noticed Akira staring, and now he hated him, and never wanted to see him again. Akira did his best to keep his face neutral as he stood and walked closer to Ryuji, feeling as though he were heading to his own execution. “Of course, I promise.”

Ryuji looked down at the floor, not seeming to find his words. Akira felt a tug in his heart; he couldn’t bear the thought of being the reason Ryuji looked so worried and sad. “You know you can tell me anything, right?” he said softly.

Ryuji opened his mouth a few times, then finally, as quietly as he ever managed to speak, said, “I think I like you. I mean, of course I like you! You’re my best friend and my leader! But what I’m trying to say is… I think I _really like_ you.”

Akira stood, poleaxed, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. Part of his brain shouted at him to reply, but the other part was floating around somewhere in outer space, disconnected by the blow of Ryuji’s completely unexpected confession. Ryuji looked up at him. “Akira?” he said worriedly.

Somehow, that one word pulled Akira back into himself, and he realised tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Ryuji looked horrified. “Oh dude, no, I didn’t mean to make you cry! I’m so sorry! Just—forget I said any of that, ok? I probably ate something weird, that’ll teach me to get breakfast at questionable food stands!”

Akira wiped the tears off his cheeks and smiled at Ryuji. “No, it’s not like that. I’m not sad, I’m…  relieved. I thought you were going to tell me you didn’t want to hang out with me anymore.” He pulled Ryuji into a light hug, resting his head on the blond’s shoulder.

“Why would you think that?” Ryuji asked, sounding confused.

“You’ve been really distant this week.”

“Damn it, sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you, I was just having trouble understanding how I was feeling and seeing you made it harder. And if this makes you uncomfortable, we never have to hang out again and —”

Akira cut him off. “I like you too, Ryuji.”

Ryuji stopped talking and pulled away, looking into Akira’s eyes. “For real?”

“Would I joke about something this important?”

Ryuji crushed Akira in his arms, squeezing all the air out of Akira’s lungs.

“I’m not sure crushes are supposed to be that literal,” Akira wheezed out, and Ryuji loosened his hold just enough to let him get a breath.

Akira slowly walked Ryuji back until his legs hit the bed and pushed at his shoulders to get him to sit down, then sat straddling his lap. Looking down at Ryuji, he whispered, “You’re beautiful.”

Ryuji scoffed.. “Look, I’m really... Really glad you like me, but that doesn’t mean you have to start lying to me now,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “I know I’m nothing special to look at.”

Akira cupped Ryuji’s face in his hands, drawing their faces together.

“Ryuji, look at me.”

When Ryuji did, he continued, “You’re breathtaking. Your smile is brighter than the sun. Your eyes have the most beautiful flecks of lighter brown in them. Your short little eyebrows are adorable. You’re perfect, ok?”

Ryuji looked away, muttering, “I hate my eyebrows.”

Akira slid a hand up to run his thumb along one of Ryuji’s eyebrows. “I _love_ your eyebrows.” He let his hand drop to the back of Ryuji’s neck, tilting his head up further until their noses were brushing. “Can I…?”

Ryuji blushed and stammered out some unintelligible reply, then screwed his eyes shut. A moment later he reopened them seeming much calmer, looked deep into Akira’s eyes, and before he had a chance to react, Ryuji angled his head to the side and pressed his lips against Akira’s. Akira went limp against Ryuji, who wrapped his arms tightly around him to keep him from falling over. The rush of physical sensations overwhelmed him. He could feel Ryuji’s heartbeat against his chest, the warm hands pressing against his back, the bulge of his biceps on his own arms, the tip of his nose on his cheek, and above all his lips, soft, warm, smooth, delicate yet insistent. It was everything Akira had ever dreamed of and at the same time, so much more. Akira kissed him back, hungrily, tangling his fingers up in spiky blond hair. He drew a shaky breath and Ryuji used the opportunity to push the tip of his tongue into Akira’s mouth. It was a good thing Ryuji was holding him up, because he didn’t think he had any bones left in his body.

Ryuji drew back, leaving Akira panting as he caught his breath. “So it _is_ possible to get you worked up, then. You're always so damn cool, I was starting to wonder,” Ryuji said with a grin. 

Akira pushed Ryuji backwards onto the bed, flopping over him and burying his head in his neck. “I’ll get you back for that one,” he laughed.

Ryuji turned his head and whispered into his ear, “I look forward to it.”

A shiver ran down Akira’s back, and Ryuji chuckled.

Akira suddenly pushed himself up. “Wait, Futaba’s coming soon!”

Ryuji pulled him back down. “Forget Futaba. I’ll never let go.”

“Ok, Rose.”

Ryuji gasped. “ _Now_ you’re getting it!” he said, tickling Akira mercilessly. Akira squealed and squirmed around, tickling Ryuji back to make him let go. After a few minutes, Sojiro called out, “Calm down up there!” and the two boys froze, looking at each other, then dissolved into giggles as they settled back against each other.

The magic of shared body heat soon had them both asleep, and when Futaba walked in 30 minutes later holding a bag of snacks and her video game, she found a snoring tangle of arms and legs on the bed. Grinning, she took a picture, sending it to Ann with a short message.

 **Futaba:** Closer by almost 1 week. You owe me dinner!

She looked at the two a bit longer, then snapped a picture at a more flattering angle, sending that one to Yusuke.

 **Futaba:** I shall call it, young love.

Yusuke replied almost instantly.

 **Yusuke:** I’m glad they’ve finally admitted their feelings to each other, but should you really be invading their privacy in this manner?

 **Futaba:** They invaded _my_ privacy! We were supposed to play a video game together! What am I supposed to do now -.-

 **Yusuke:** Do you want to go somewhere? I can always use a change of scenery for sketching practice.

 **Futaba:** Yes! I want to go to the arcade!

 **Yusuke:** Fantastic idea. I do love sketching you playing those shooting games. Your expressions are always so complex.

Futaba blushed.

 **Futaba:** _weirdo_. See you there in 30 minutes?

 **Yusuke:** That sounds good.

* * *

 

Ryuji and Akira woke up a short while later and saw the snacks and video game on the table, accompanied by a note. While Akira walked over to read it, Ryuji sat up and wrapped the blanket around himself.

 

> Enjoy, lovebirds!
> 
> Don’t worry about paying me back for the snacks, Ann’s taking care of that.
> 
> -Futaba

 

Akira handed the note to Ryuji, saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” then went to set up the video game. He grabbed the snacks and came to sit next to Ryuji. “Space for me in there?”

Ryuji held out the blanket while Akira huddled up next to him with the controllers, then pulled it against them. He held his phone out to Akira, opened to a chat with Ann.

 **Ann:** CONGRATULATIONS!

 **Ann:** I’m so PROUD OF YOU!

 **Ann:** Omg pick up your phone I need to hear every detail!

 **Ann:** How dare you leave me hanging?! I was the one who was there for you!

 **Ann:** I’m going crazy here _answer me_!

 **Ann:** You know what, we’re not friends anymore. Don’t call me. Bye.

 **Ann:** Omg I just realised maybe you can’t answer me because your HANDS are too busy DOING THINGS to Akira

 **Ann:** I take it back I don’t want to know every detail!

 **Ann:** Just some of the details please????

“Guess this won’t be a secret relationship, then,” Akira said.

Ryuji took a moment to reply to Ann.

 **Ryuji:** I’ll call you tonight, ok?

 **Ann:** YES I CAN’T WAIT

He pushed himself even closer to Akira and said, “Are you joking? With all those people interested in you, there’s no way I’m going to settle for anything else than the highest level of PDA. They need to see you’re taken!”

Akira snaked an arm around Ryuji’s waist. “Does a cafe attic without a door count as a public place?” he said, pulling Ryuji onto his lap. “Because if so, I say we get started right away.”


End file.
